The Ureters Flashcards
What are the ureters?
The left and right ureters are two muscular tubes that empty urine from their respective kidneys and carry it to the urinary bladder.
What is the structure of the ureters?
Their walls consist of three layers of smooth muscle fibres that spiral around the tube and air peristaltic contractions that force urine into the bladder.
Where do the ureters descend from?
They descend from the kidneys, behind the peritoneum, to enter the pelvis.
How do the ureters enter the bladder?
They run obliquely through the muscle of the bladder wall.
What happens when the bladder is full or contracting?
The muscles of the bladder wall act as valves and prevent urinary reflux into the ureters.
What are renal and ureteric calculi?
Kidney stones.
Where can kidney stones cause blockages?
At the junction between the ureters and renal pelvis.
Where the ureters cross the brim of the pelvic bone.
In the entrance of the ureters into the bladder.
